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Kings’ Summer League begins with a loud thud

The lowly Charlotte Bobcats brought most of their NBA roster to Las Vegas for summer league. That’s what happens when you go 7-59 during the regular season.

We shouldn’t kid. After losing their last 23 games of the regular season, Charlotte put the Sacramento Kings to bed with a 121-87 romp in the final game of opening night in Las Vegas.

Rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 18, while leading an aggressive attack that included a full-court press for the entire game. Fourth-year big man Byron Mullens led Charlotte with 20, hitting a myriad of perimeter shots and rookie second round pick Jeffery Taylor scored 17 for the Bobcats.

The Kings struggled mightily, turning the ball over countless times as Charlotte blitzed them from start to finish. First round pick Thomas Robinson led the Kings with 19 points and five rebounds in the loss. The Kings handed Jimmer Fredette the keys to the team and he failed to respond. The sophomore guard scored just seven points on 2-for-11 shooting, missing all eight of his 3-point attempts.

While this game was a disaster from start to finish, it may have been just what Jimmer and the Kings needed. Clearly they hadn’t practiced how to work around a press and they got plenty of work on it tonight.

The Bobcats looked like a team trying to win a game, while the Kings looked like a team that was expecting a standard summer league game. New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton would have been proud of Bobcats’ coach Mike Dunlap tonight.

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Founded in 2009, Cowbell Kingdom is a member of the ESPN TrueHoop Network. Its goal is to provide frontline, on-the-ground coverage of the Kings that leads to interesting and thought-provoking discussion amongst readers and viewers.